Our Work

Goldman Environmental Prize

Spotlighting Seven Heroes for the Planet for The Goldman Environmental Prize

The Goldman Environmental Prize was established in 1990 by San Francisco philanthropists Richard and Rhoda Goldman to recognize the outstanding achievements of grassroots environmentalists around the globe. These are not celebrities or world-renowned scientists, but ordinary people – grandmothers, farmers, tribesmen – who are often the most affected by industrial pollution and conflicts over natural resources, yet are the least empowered to make a change. Nevertheless, they find the strength to take on overwhelming environmental and social problems, sometimes in the face of life–threatening opposition.

The award had received little national media coverage due in part to the fact that few journalists on the environmental beat cover prizes, especially one like Goldman that offers $150,000 per recipient, a paltry sum compared with other prizes that offer a million dollars, such as the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2008, this challenge was compounded by the fact that all of the 2008 Goldman Environmental Prize recipients resided outside the U.S. in remote areas of the globe, including the Ecuadorean Amazon and the African Savanna, which severely limited U.S. media angles. Similarly, since most recipients had completed their work well in advance of receiving the Prize, there was little breaking news surrounding their efforts.

Allison & Partners humanized the recipients' stories and connected their environmental issues with U.S. concerns, capturing details that garnered strong interest from journalists. The team also did extensive monitoring of political and environmental issues to uncover topical news hooks related to the recipients' work. In the midst of our campaign, the joint winners from Ecuador obtained an opinion by a court-appointed expert in the case recommending that Chevron pay billions in damages for its contribution to petrochemical waste spoiling hundreds of square miles of Amazon rainforest. Chevron went on the attack to discredit both the Prize winners and the Prize itself. Our team avoided any direct criticism of Chevron, instead working around the clock to secure media opportunities for the Prize winners to tell their side of the story, and issuing a written statement on behalf of the 88–year–old founder of the Prize to underscore the rigorous, five–month process by which Prize winners are chosen.

The media coverage secured by Allison & Partners for the Goldman Environmental Prize, which included coverage in the nation's top newsapapers, wire stories and national broadcast coverage, increased public awareness and support of environmental causes and put Prize winners in the international spotlight. Such visibility helps further Prize winner efforts and often serves to protect the lives of those who risk their safety in battles with billion–dollar corporations, corrupt governments, and violent land mafias.